Still Human
by JMNY8
Summary: After Day 7, Jack visits Tony to see if he can recognize any bit of his old friend.


Disclaimer: I own nothing from 24

Jack has been out of the hospital for a week now. He doesn't know what to do with all of this time on his hands except think. He tried calling Renee- he can't blame her for not wanting to talk to him. Not after Larry, and Marika, and Tony…. Tony. The name itself brought tears to his eyes. He could understand the need for revenge, to make them suffer for what they did- but not at that cost. Not Tony.

His mind made up, Jack gets on the phone. He has an appointment to schedule.

Tony is surprised to get a visitor. Chloe came by two weeks ago to stare at him through her tears. She could barely choke out a sentence before running off. He never got to ask about Wilson. The FBI had made it their mission to ensure Tony didn't hear a word about the outside world. He suspected it wasn't actually the FBI who was doing this, but a certain Agent Walker. The look in her eyes when she debriefed him, before she was called out to oversee Wilson's transfer, was almost haunting. Tony knew that look. He saw it most days when he looked into a mirror. That hollowness was the only thing that made the rage- and worse, the grief- bearable.

What surprised him was the depth he saw. He knew that she cared about Moss. It was easy to see how shaken up she was, and how angry. But the fire in her eyes was not the same then. It was on the surface, a shallow grief. This was different. And he knew what this was about.

It's not about bombing dozens of FBI agents. It's not about killing Moss in cold blood after he supported Tony. It's not even about trying to kill thousands of innocent people in a metro station. That sort of indifference or cruelty was known to her. Sure, Moss vouched for Tony, but none of those people mattered to him. Jack mattered to him. Jack was his best friend, more of a brother than Emerson ever was. Jack had gone through everything Tony had, and so much more, yet still managed to hit the ground running. And Tony took it all away. He threatened Jack's family, a lower blow than even he thought he could deliver. He took a man on the brink of a horrible death, and threatened to use him against everything he believed in. The fact that Tony was never actually planning to let them use him didn't matter. He knew Jack- the mere thought that he would be used that way, and by someone he trusted so much, was worse than everything Cheng could have thrown at him in twenty years. Then to rub salt in the wound, he strapped him to a bomb as a final act of vengeance for both of them.

What he couldn't tell is if Walker was so full of rage because of what he did, or who he did it to.

But he knows that this visitor will not be Agent Walker, will not be Chloe. Walker has no more reason to interrogate him, and Chloe isn't strong enough to handle it.

So this is what it feels like to see a ghost. Tony heard before he went in that Jack had a day, maybe two, and that he would spend the whole time in a hospital. So what the hell is he doing in the federal penitentiary visiting area? Shocked, Tony sits down and picks up the phone.

"Thought you were dead." His voice still sounds empty, hollow. He wonders if it'll always be that way.

"Kim." All the explanation he needed, and a smack of guilt. Kim, who he sent operatives after to get Jack as his hostage. The same Kim who he once treated like his own family. Tony was almost always the one to pick up the pieces when Jack couldn't. When Teri died and Jack retreated into a hollow shell, Tony took care of both of them for months. When Jack was hospitalized with a heart condition, Tony brought Kim food and clothing at the hospital. When Jack went undercover, Tony had been the one Kim would turn to about her problems. When Jack "died", Tony spent a month and a half trying to coax her out of the house. Even when Chase left, Tony was still there. And after all that, he turns around and practically points a gun to her head.

Jack noticed a wince when he mentioned his daughter- more of a reaction than he was expecting to get this whole interview. Jack had virtually unlimited time to talk to Tony. One of the benefits of filling up the place, they tend to give you leniency. Of course, it's hard to forget that Jack had filled most of those cells with Tony as his partner.

"Any familiar faces?"

That certainly got a reaction, but not what Jack was expecting. He had thought a sarcastic chuckle, or scoff. Instead, Tony had a hesitant look on his face. He knew better than to think that Tony was scared of anyone he put in here- even the worst of the men they put away weren't a match for him. And this look wasn't fear, it was unsure. Tony realized he wanted to protect Jack.

"Yeah, Jack. One. Your buddy Cheng's a block over. Caught him on my way in." Tony's voice had softened a bit, as though trying to cushion the blow. He was surprised with himself for caring.

Jack looked down, unable to meet Tony's eyes.

"Doesn't look like he's doing too well. If it matters."

Jack had to give a light chuckle at that. Cheng didn't matter to Jack anymore, but the fact that Tony thought it might did. The fact that Tony volunteered the information, trying to help, mattered. No matter how hard he tried, no matter what he'd said to Chloe and others, Jack couldn't let go of the hope that there was a glimmer of his old friend still alive.

"Why are you here, Jack?"

"Don't know. Nowhere else to be, I guess."

Tony was silent. Seeing Jack was harder than he could have imagined. "Jack, I-"

"No, Tony. Don't." Knowing where this was going, he had to cut him off. "You're not sorry. If you had the choice, you'd do it all over again." There was nothing judgmental in Jack's voice, he almost sounded as empty as Tony.

"Probably. Wouldn't have dragged you into it, though." His voice grew quieter, barely a whisper. "Or Kim."

"You almost made my granddaughter lose her mother, Tony. Dammit, what were you thinking?" It was the first time Jack showed anger since arriving. And the look on Tony's face showed he wasn't immune to that statement.

Tony had barely felt a thing in years. Since Michelle died, there was emptiness, and the things that were worse. Jack showed up a couple months ago, and it started rushing back. He actually started to feel guilt over the things that he was doing. Not enough to stop him, but it was there. He caught himself asking if Jack would be ok with the decisions he was making. That still wasn't enough to stop him, but it gave him pause. Being around Jack reminded him of all they'd been through together, and all the crap that had been piled on Jack. He'd felt somewhat inadequate next to the man, less of a human being. But it wasn't enough to pull him from his mission. Then, in prison, he'd lost it all again. Jack was dead, his last connection to humanity, and he could just be empty again.

But Jack wasn't dead. Jack was here. Jack was making him feel all these emotions that he'd been trying so hard not to. And now the bombshell of Kim being a mother- just like Michelle would have been. It was too much. Before he even realized it, the tears were streaming. He wasn't sobbing, just sitting, letting them fall.

Jack felt his anger abate slightly. He'd never forgive Tony for what he'd done, especially to Kim, but it turned his stomach to see him so broken.

"Granddaughter?" Tony choked out the word.

"Teri. She's two." The tears were flowing faster now, and Tony was starting to shake.

"I didn't know. Kim- I'm sure she's-" Tony couldn't finish his sentence because of the sobs wracking through him.

"She is. She's a great mother." Just like Michelle would have been. It's on both their minds, the tip of their tongues, but Jack knows it's too much. He waits for Tony to calm down before changing the subject.

"I don't know if it matters, but Renee broke Wilson." That got his attention.

"I hadn't heard. I don't think they wanted me to know anything. Probably have your girl Walker to thank for that."

"Not Walker. She's out." Jack had heard only recently that Renee conducted an unauthorized interrogation- he'd heard it be described scornfully as in the style of Jack Bauer- and asked to leave the FBI.

"Out?"

"She broke Wilson. It's the FBI, not CTU."

Tony had seen in Walker's eyes that she was capable of it, but he thought she was too close to the rulebook to actually go through with it. He wasn't all that surprised she went that far, after the day she'd been through. What surprised him was how Jack was talking about it. That was the voice he used when Teri died- the voice he used when he believed everything to be his fault. Tony knew Jack had pushed Agent Walker into some tough spots that day, and he probably thought he was the cause of her troubles. Tony knew better. Jack wouldn't have even met her if it hadn't been for Tony.

"She ok?" The question surprised both of them.

"Do you care?" Jack asked in earnest, looking for traces of his old friend.

Tony shrugged. Being around Jack was difficult when you're trying not to feel anything.

"You do."

"Yeah. Guess I do. I don't know. She hasn't answered any of my calls." Jack didn't know why he was volunteering this information. He was having as much difficulty being around Tony as the convict had around him. There were so many old memories and emotions drudged up, they were almost falling back into an old pattern.

"Did Wilson give you much?"

Jack scowled. Wilson gave them everything, and Jack was floored to see just how much damage the man had caused. He debated continuing this conversation. He'd wanted to have it so many times, but Renee wouldn't talk to him, Bill was dead, and he couldn't talk to Chloe about this. He realized that, like it or not, Tony may be the only person who he could talk to about this.

"Got a few hours?"

Tony laughed, as close to a real laugh as he's been able to get. "You know I do."

Jack told him everything. Wilson didn't know the names of all of his co-conspirators, but he gave the ones he did and told them how to track down the rest. He knew the names of all the deceased who had worked with them. Wilson had worked with over two dozen conspirators over the last fifteen years. The Sentox gas and Prion variant weren't the only attempts they'd made. They were responsible for several small hits from New York to Atlanta, things that barely registered at the time but were being used as examples of government inadequacy by the group of 'patriots'

What really struck him was how much of it he had seen personally. Both of them had. Peter Kingsley and Wilson had worked together on the Cypress recordings. In fact, Wilson was the one who had gotten Second Wave the nuke in the first place, as well as the idea of an American sleeper. When he got to the Sentox conspiracy, he had to pause. He wasn't sure if Tony was ready to talk about this. He wasn't sure if he was ready to talk about this.

Sensing Jack's discomfort at what was coming next, Tony shifted.

"Tell me what you learned about Logan's plot."

Jack took a deep breath before continuing. "Logan's plot wasn't Logan's plot. Come on, that guy's not smart enough to come up with anything like that." Tony's eyes signaled agreement.

"Logan got his instructions from Graem." Seeing Tony's confusion, he amended, "Graem Bauer."

"Christ, Jack. Are you serious? Your brother?"

"Looks like the plan itself was created by my father. Graem carried it out with Logan and Henderson. Yeah. My flesh and blood are the ones responsible for you, for Michelle, for Palmer… Then when they couldn't kill me, my father contacted Cheng."

Tony's blood froze. He wasn't there when Jack returned, but he heard an account from Bill. Later on, using Emerson's contacts, he hacked into the Chinese database and found his file. The interrogation transcriptions were enough to make his hair curl- they documented not just the questions and lack of answers, but they detailed the methods of failing to extract those answers. Tony had made himself read through each and every page of it. He actually had to stop a few times to be sick, but this was what those bastards had put his best friend through and he needed to try to understand his pain. The pictures were worse. Most of them were posed intake pictures for each week of the interrogation, but a few had been slipped in there of Jack in his dank, dirty cell and three that were taken during interrogations. The worst part was the one audio file that was there. Cheng's hauntingly polite voice, some tools, and some sloshing liquids was all the noise there was for forty five seconds- then the screaming started. It was clear that Jack was forcing his mouth shut, wouldn't even give the Chinese the satisfaction of a full scream. Tony had thought he was immune to anything by that point, that the emptiness had completely taken over. He was wrong. Tony listened to that tape and he sobbed like a baby. He realized afterward just how proud he was of Jack- he didn't give Cheng anything to smile about for twenty months. After a year and a half, the intake pictures showed him loosing the defiant look and adopting a sadder, emptier gaze that Tony could identify with. But still he knew Jack would not break.

It was impossible to think of his friend, his blood brother going through all of that. But the fact that his own family had put him there was beyond unthinkable. These were the people who were supposed to love him unconditionally, support him and be there for him. And instead they threw him into that cold, bitter hell for two years.

Tony saw red for the first time in years. He started screaming, hitting the plexiglass divider.

"Those bastards! How could they get away with something like that? How the hell could they do that to you, Jack? How could they do it to you?" The force of his own words hit him, and all the guilt came flooding in. Tony may not have felt remorse for the innocent lives he put at risk, but Jack Bauer was different. He should not have had to go through any of this- not from him, not from his family, not from Wilson. As the guards came to restrain him, his anger turned to grief and remorse for Jack.

"I'm sorry Jack… So sorry…"

Jack was confused for weeks after his visit. He called Renee Walker four times the day he saw Tony, not expecting an answer but hoping all the same.

Two weeks later, there was a riot in that prison. Jack looked over the report to make sure Tony was okay, not entirely sure if he should really be concerned. None of the fatalities jumped out at him, but there was special mention in the report. One of the inmates was found brutally beaten, his hand almost entirely torn to shreds.

His name was Cheng Zhi.


End file.
